At Friday's sentencing hearing, it was her chance to talk to the man who aimed for a rival but accidentally killed Scott's daughter, an innocent 18-year-old looking forward to her senior year of high school.

Scott shook her head. "You're a hard man," she started. "I guess at one point, I wanted to know why — why you took my daughter's life away. But it didn't matter because we couldn't bring her back."

Jurors convicted Tyrell Bragg, 23, last month of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Iesha Washington.

Authorities say he meant to shoot Washington's brother, Darrell Hernandez, who had been in a brawl with Bragg outside a Riverview party in 2011. Instead, the bullet hit Washington in the head.

During Friday's hearing, Bragg sat impassively and watched Scott. He chose not to speak himself.

"At one time I was wondering why they didn't pursue first-degree premeditated (murder) because you left and you came back with the gun," Scott said. "You had so much time to think."

It was a fight over a neighborhood rivalry. Progress Village versus Clair-Mel.

"Senseless," according to Scott, lawyers and Circuit Judge Emmett Battles.

Battles sentenced Bragg to 40 years in prison. The minimum Bragg could have received was 25 years. A prosecutor asked for life.

At one point Friday, Scott turned to Bragg's mother.

"Both of us lose. At the end she's losing," Scott said. "But guess what. Every time I go to the grave, you know what I see? Dirt."

Though Bragg chose not to address the court, his sister spoke briefly in his defense.

"He needs education. Education will help him. He wants a science major," she said. "I know I can help him."

When it was over, a bailiff recorded Bragg's fingerprints. Scott wiped her tears and said, "It's over." And Bragg's family just sat still on the wood benches, remaining long after everyone had left.